The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council
(FFIEC) announced today the availability of data on 1998 mortgage lending
transactions at individual institutions in metropolitan areas throughout
the nation. These data, in the form of disclosure statements, are available
from the 7,837 lenders covered by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

The FFIEC prepares and distributes the HMDA statements
for individual lenders on behalf of its member agencies -- the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve Board, National Credit
Union Administration, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Office
of Thrift Supervision -- and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Lenders are required to make the disclosure statements available at their
home offices within three business days of receiving the statements. In
addition, for other metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) in which they
have offices, lenders must either make a copy of the statements available
at one branch per MSA or provide a copy upon written request.

The disclosure statements cover home purchase and
home improvement loans and contain information about loan originations,
loan purchases, and applications that did not result in a loan. The 1998
data include a total of 24.7 million reported loans and applications,
an increase of about 50 percent from 1997 that primarily reflects a very
large increase (112 percent) in refinancing activity in 1998. For most
loans relating to property located in MSAs, the statements identify the
geographic location, usually by census tract. The statements give information
about three characteristics of applicants or borrowers: race or national
origin, sex, and annual income.

The FFIEC also prepares aggregate reports that include
data for all lenders in a metropolitan area. By early August, the FFIEC
will send these aggregate reports and individual lenders' disclosure statements
to a central depository in each metropolitan area for public inspection.
The location of these central depositories can be obtained by calling
the FFIEC (202/634-6526) or by visiting the FFIEC's Web site at this page:
www.ffiec.gov/hmdacf/centdep/main.cfm
.

In addition, the FFIEC makes HMDA data directly available
to the public in various formats, including magnetic tape, CD-ROM, and
at the FFIEC Web site. Some data are available in paper form (tables for
1998 showing the nationwide aggregates and key demographic information
for metropolitan areas, for instance). An order form can be obtained by
calling 202/452-2016 (an automated response system) and selecting menu
options 4 and then 1, or by faxing a request for an order form to 202/452-6497.
The order form is also available at the FFIEC Web site at this page: www.ffiec.gov/hmda/orderform.htm
. The order form gives descriptions of the various reports, prices, and
formats. Advance orders may be placed to be filled when the data become
available.

The FFIEC also provides data from the nation's eight
private mortgage insurance (PMI) companies. The 1998 PMI data include
information on approximately 1.8 million applications for mortgage insurance,
about 1.2 million of which were to insure home purchase mortgages, and
0.6 million of which were to insure mortgages to refinance existing obligations.
These data will be available at individual PMI companies, at the central
depositories in each metropolitan area, and from the FFIEC. By early August,
the data will be available at central depositories and from the FFIEC
in the same types of reports and in the same formats as the HMDA data.

Questions about a HMDA report for a specific lender
should be directed to the lender's supervisory agency at the number listed
below: